


Lee Scoresby and other Horrible Life Decisions that Turned Out Okey

by plum_blossom



Category: His Dark Materials (TV)
Genre: A story in a few chapters, Daemon Touching, Dont know where this is going, F/M, Fluff, I just love his dark materials, but lee’s cute so what the hell, original daemon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:47:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27781741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plum_blossom/pseuds/plum_blossom
Summary: I was just a lonely aeronaut, struggling to get taken seriously as a woman in the business. I was supposed to make a delivery to London - money for some shady deal - when we suddenly got into a storm and had to crash land.I hadn’t planned on falling in love with some ragged, Texan aeronaut.
Relationships: Lee Scoresby/Original Character(s), Lee Scoresby/Original female Character
Comments: 3
Kudos: 10





	Lee Scoresby and other Horrible Life Decisions that Turned Out Okey

**Author's Note:**

> I have never seen a single episode, only edits :) but I’m planning on watching it and as I do I will probably edit and continue this fan fiction. It’s just a little thing I wrote because I love the aesthetic of the fandom and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s take on the character.  
> Enjoy!

The sky lay in rags of grey, black and blue - splatters of white here and there where the clouds built towers. 

Carlo and I had made a lucky escape out of the storm. But we weren’t safe just yet. Sure, we had solid ground beneath us and the balloon was mainly intact, but I hadn’t the faintest clue where we were!  
An icy wind blew and despite my wooly hat and leather hood I felt it harsh against my face. Carlo, in his now usual form of a wolf (He had settled quite late, five years ago.), circled my legs.  
“We don’t know where we are.” 

“Yes,” I said through my teeth, “Thank you for giving us a firm grasp of the obvious.” 

I hadn’t meant to snap at him like that, but it was freezing and I had work to do.  
With a jolt, I pulled on a rope. I had spent the last half hour constructing a tent, using the balloon. We had quickly understood that the storm wasn’t going to calm down anytime soon and so if we wanted to survive, we needed to make camp here. In the middle of a deserted platform, surrounded by snow. 

“There we go,” I mumbled and wiped the fresh snow off our newly made home for the night. 

Carlo slipped inside and looked out at me.  
I sighed.  
Wherever I looked, there was white snow. Only interrupted occasionally by black rock and dark sky.  
We could just hope that the storm would calm tomorrow, or if we’re lucky even tonight. At least we didn’t have any perishable goods to deliver. But honestly, in this cold nothing would perish - just freeze.  
I crept into the tent with Carlo and pulled the entrance shut. But Carlo kept sticking his snout out, sniffing. 

I was sitting leant against the gas stock. “Come on in, Carlo, I don’t wanna loose the little heat we’ve got left.”

He was still sniffing. “I’m feeling something coming. I my bones, I feel it.”

I frowned. “Something?”

“I don’t know.” 

I got up and opened the entrance; only a tiny slit so I could look out. Nothing but blinding bright white and the whistle of the wind. We waited as if in anticipation.  
I was just about to say, “There’s nothing there,” and seal the tent again, when-

_**CRASH** _

__The sound of leather fluttering in the wind, ice crackling, metal clinking.  
Snow. Squeaking. A thud. A voice, maybe.  
The wind whistled._ _

__Carlo and I exchanged a meaningful look.  
Then, in an instant, we had climbed outside. The snow was still swirling around us; I could barely see. The sky seemed even darker and wilder now. The storm ran its fingers through Carlo’s fur, a lightning bolt lit up the sky and for a moment, everything was so bright, I thought I’d gone blind.  
I squinted my eyes. _ _

__There, a couple of yards away, somebody had crashed with their balloon, just like we had._ _

__“Another aeronaut,” I whispered and Carlo could hear me even over the howling of the wind. “Should we go see?”_ _

__“Maybe they need help,” Carlo said.  
That was all it took to convince me. _ _

__The snow was deep and heavily tugging on my boots with every step I took. Carlo fought his way through it in my footsteps.  
“Hey!”, I called, waving from afar.  
I couldn’t really see anyone. I hoped whoever had crashed had survived, too. _ _

__The wind was loud, I had to scream. “IS ANYONE HERE?!”_ _

__And really, I could make out a silhouette. _Thank God!_  
Someone in a thick coat just like mine; they were already pitching camp, too, by the look of it. But they’d crashed way harder than we had! I had heard that. Their balloon couldn’t possibly be in a good state._ _

__As I approached, the person looked up. They tied a last knot into the rope they were holding and then walked over to me, too.  
“HEY!”, a male voice called out. _ _

__Snowflakes caught in my eyelashes. “HEY!”, I called back._ _

__“THAT BALLOON YOURS?!”, he called, pointing at my balloon-now-tent._ _

__“YEAH!”_ _

__He had finally come close enough for me to make out his face. And his daemon, an arctic hare who tilted her head jauntily. She was very beautiful.  
Two yards away from me, wrapped in a padded leather coat and hat, hood pulled in, stood a light skinned man with dark eyes and dark hair, bearded and with squinted eyes against the stinging wind. His teeth were pressed together; he was just as cold as I was. _ _

__“Ari Holmes,” I introduced myself, “Aeronaut, messenger and part-time explorer. And this is Carlo.”_ _

__“Lee Scoresby and Hester,” he responded, shaking my hand. His eyes brushed Carlo, maybe lingering a little too long. People tended to do that. The wolf startled strangers. He looked back up. “I can fly and I can fight.”_ _

__I looked at his balloon. “Well, flying doesn’t sound so intriguing right now, does it? Need help?”_ _

__“I get along on my own just fine, thanks, doll.”_ _

___”Oh, I see! Mr. I-can-fly-and-I-can-fight doesn’t want help from a girl. Super tough! It’s not like half his ballon is missing,”_ Carlo thinks very loudly.  
I need to hold back a grin.  
“Well, Mr. Scoresby, if you don’t need our help, so be it.”  
I turned around to make my way back through the snow storm, following my own footsteps back. “You know where to find us!”, I added, louder.  
I didn’t turn back another time to see his reaction. _ _

__Carlo led the way and immediately rolled up on a sheepskin once we got inside.  
I flopped down next to him and started making a little fire in a metal bowl. He rested his head on my lap and I reveled in having him so close.  
I could hear the wind tugging on the ropes and leather. We really could do nothing but wait and sit it out. _ _

__After a while of listening to the storm, I picked up my ukulele and started plucking some tunes.  
I sang softly, “ _Where were you when the saw mill burned?  
I was out fighting with my grandpa’s gun.  
They can follow me as best they can,  
But I can run faster when there is no sun._”_ _

__“Sing it with me, Carlo. _Shine on._ ” _ _

__He joined. “ _Shine on._ ”_ _

__“Dum dum, dim dim dim,” I muttered as I plucked the notes. The fire crackled in the bowl at our feet._ _

__And then suddenly, we startled up. _Thud, thud, thud._ Someone was knocking against the basket from outside. “Hey.”_ _

__“I knew he was gonna come to ask for help in the end,” Carlo muttered.  
I just smiled. “You can come in. But be quick, don’t let the cold in!” _ _

__The leather was pulled back to open the entrance and the man ducked into the tent. He was quick to close it again and brushed some snow off his coat. He put his hood down. “You got it cozy in here,” he commented. His daemon settled next to him, one paw slightly raised._ _

__“As cozy as it gets in the middle of a snow storm. Why are you here?”_ _

__He hesitated. “I need some leather.”  
_“Told you,”_ Carlo thought.  
Lee went on, “My balloon ripped and I was able to fix most of it, but there’s one hole that I couldn’t fix, so... I’ll pay you back, obviously! Whatever you want for it.” _ _

__I considered it. “How much do you need?”_ _

__“A square yard.”_ _

__I nodded slightly. “Six gold dollars. And some wood if you got any.”_ _

__“That’s pricey,” the hare said cockily.  
“Shut it, Hester,” he hissed, and to me he said, “Deal.”  
Yeah, well, they didn’t really have the freedom to bargain with me. After all, he needed his balloon fixed if he wanted to get away from here and I was the only leather source in this deserted spot. _ _

__I fetched some leather from behind me and cut off a square yard for him. Meanwhile, he opened his coat to get out some money. He was wearing a padded vest beneath his coat that was typical for aeronauts and it reminded me of my own. It was more worn down, though. I spied the gun on his left leg._ _

__“Six, you said?”_ _

__I suddenly empathized with him. Well-paid jobs are hard to get in our business. “Make it four.”_ _

__He smiled and counted the money from a little bag into his hand. “There.” We exchanged money and leather. “Thank you. I think I can help out with some wood, too,” he said, “You want me to get it right now?”_ _

__I looked at him. The fire was drowning his face in a soft, orange glow. His eyes glittered. My breath hitched without my permission. It wasn’t even him, probably, that had me so bubbly; I just hadn’t been around people in a while. Up in the air for days with nobody to talk to except my daemon... It could get lonely. I swallowed and tried to be casual.  
“You’ll want to get back to your camp. And fix that hole. You can give me the wood tomorrow.” _ _

__I felt Carlo look at me. _”That’s a stupid idea,”_ he was thinking, _”What if he just goes on the run? You can’t trust this man, look at him!”_  
But I was looking at him. And there was something I liked, I liked so much.  
_”Oh, no,”_ Carlo thought as he realized what was going on.  
I rolled my eyes internally. _”Remind me to give you a slap on the back of your head, will you?”_ , I thought back.  
Carlo rolled up next to me, almost offended. _ _

__Lee Scoresby tipped his hat at me. “I owe you, wolf girl.” He stood up._ _

__“See you tomorrow, Mr. Scoresby.”_ _

__Carlo raised his head, watching him and Hester leave.  
We waited until the sounds of their footsteps blurred with the howling of the storm.  
“Come on,” I whispered, “You gotta admit you like him in some way. Look at that lil daemon of his!” I nudged Carlo. _ _

__He just huffed. “It’s a bad idea, that’s all I’m saying.”_ _

__“But we always go for bad ideas! It’s what we do!” I laughed._ _

__“Don’t I know it.”_ _

__We started singing again until we both got tired.  
The rattling of the wind against our tent was almost like a lullaby. Carlo huddled closer and eventually I fell asleep. _ _

___The sun shone down upon us, warm and fortunate, as though to grant us good luck on our way. We were headed west.  
I adjusted the flame one last time before I jumped down from the metal poles. The basket beneath my feet was so familiar it almost felt safer than solid ground. _ _ _

___I stood by the railing, leaning out into the fresh air. I wasn’t wearing my coat. Breathing in deeply, I stretched out my arms. The wind swirled around me, I felt free, freer than ever. Carlo had jumped up next to me, paws on the railing.  
We were soaring. _ _ _

___And there he was. Right next to me, smiling. In his coat and vest and he grabbed my hands and swirled me around.  
We spun through the basket, laughing and dancing and holding onto one another.  
Exhausted, but happy, I fell against his chest.  
He held me, arms tightly around my back.  
I tried to smell him, pressed against his shoulder. But my brain had no idea what Lee Scoresby might smell like. And so I slipped into a different dream seamlessly._ _ _

__It was quiet when I woke up. And cold.  
I shifted uncomfortably. The fire had gone out, but the sun had risen it seemed. Above us, the tent’s walls were pressed down by a thick layer of snow.  
Carlo shook himself. “Brrrr. I don’t wanna stand up.” He’d always been a sleepyhead and so had I. But I wanted to leave this place and I also wanted to see Lee Scoresby again. “Come on.” _ _

__I crept out of the basket and into the fresh snow. It squeaked under my boots, but apart from that, everything was quiet and white.  
I looked around, blinking against the sudden light.  
Lee was gone. _ _

__Carlo stepped into the snow next to me. “I told you he’d make a run for it.”_ _

__I bit down on my lip, eyes glued to the spot where the balloon had been. A shallow pit in the snow was all that Lee Scoresby had left._ _

__“You dreamt of him, didn’t you?”, Carlo teased suddenly._ _

__I snapped out of my trance and shot him a glance. “Shut up.”_ _

__We started packing up our things. I had to clean the snow off the balloon and ready it for departure. Carlo helped as well as he could. He was a slim wolf, almost to narrow to be a male wolf and I had often worried about it, but he was swift and smart and he said the things I didn’t dare to speak or think.  
I was just collecting the sheepskins when I noticed.  
Half-hidden by the fresh snow lay a bundle of wood next to the entrance of the tent. _ _

__“Hah!” I smiled as I picked it up. “You see, Carlo? I knew we could trust him.”  
He looked at me. I knew what he was about to say. He was about to tell me off for being so naive and for taking a liking to someone ever so quickly.  
But to my surprise, he didn’t. _ _

__He just sniffed on the wood, trotted to sit in the basket and said, “Okey, I admit it. I like him. Now, can we go?”_ _

__

__**[a/n] The song that they’re singing is called “Moonshiners” by “Goodnight, Texas” and it’s very good, go check it out!  
Also please give me feedback on how you like it and if you’d like a second chapter :)** _ _


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